Liquid-containment systems are required in myriad industrial settings, particularly when there is a significant potential for the inadvertent and uncontrolled release of industrial waste to the environment. Over the past twenty years, the energy industry has used an average of 55 million cubic meters of water every year for a process known as hydraulic fracturing. By today's standards, this average would be a low estimate and the volume of water needed by the industry is widely expected to grow. The systems currently in place to store these large volumes of water, such as Frac Tanks and in-ground pits, are needlessly expensive, time consuming to erect, unreliable and dangerous, and inefficient.
In the oil and gas industry, there are two widely-used water storage systems:                1. A series of fracturing tanks (commonly known as “frac tanks”)        2. An excavated pit (commonly known as an “earth pit”)Fracturing Tanks:        
A typical frac tank is 45′ long, 8.5° wide, and 10′ tall with an average capacity of 500 bbl. Each tank must be individually permitted for use in the oil field and individually hauled to location. In addition, each tank must carry current state registration for transport.
Typically, many dozens of frac tanks will be brought to a single location so that enough water can be stored on site to carry out the fracture. A typical fracturing procedure will use anywhere from 55 to 80 bbl per minute and can last anywhere from twenty minutes to several hours. Some fracturing operations last for several days. But because the water leaves the tank through a 4″ dia. hose, only about 8 bbl per minute can be pulled from a single tank. As a result, several tanks must be open at once and a complex and time-sensitive process of measuring the volume of water in each tank, then running down the stairs to open and close valves must be used to ensure a steady rate of flow. Mistakes are often made and the entire fracturing procedure frequently stops. In addition, because each tank has to be filled individually, they are often overfilled. Large frac-water puddles can be found at almost every location where frac tanks are used, not only as a result of overfilling, but also from the leakage that occurs every time one of the tank hoses are disconnected and drained onto the ground. Thus, significant EPA fines represent another risk to operators.
Earth Pits:
Earth pits are excavated and lined with an impervious membrane that prevents frac-water from seeping into the ground. Water is typically sucked out with a series of 4-inch hoses. In addition, earth pits are generally expensive to create. The cost of lease roads, location building, pit excavation, pit lining, and best-management practices (BMPs) to finish the location in accordance with federal and state requirements are formidable. Moreover, permitting for earth pits is also an expensive and time-consuming process as is the reclamation process upon completion. Therefore, due to a variety of environmental hazards, these kinds of open, in-ground pits are against code and can no longer be constructed in a growing number of regions across the US. It would be advantageous to be able to construct a pit without the problems and costs associated with excavation and site restoration.